Tag: words

cover lover or lover of the Word?

Karla Lees

I love getting a new version of the Bible. There is something holy and fresh to me about holding a brand new Bible. Opening the cover for the first time, and taking a peek at the insides.

As a book lover and word crafter, I can appreciate a pretty cover, fantastic graphics or eye catching images.  Yet if I never open the book, I  will miss the point.

If you don’t move past the cover, you miss the meat of the words inside which you are meant to meet.  To read.  To chew on. To ponder. To be challenged, entertained by.

Without reading the words inside the covers, a book becomes just an ornament on a shelf.

Which isn’t the point of a book.

Nor the point of the Bible.

The Bible, or the Word as I prefer to refer to it as, is designed to help us along our journey.

It not only instructs us, but gives us insight into situations we might experience, and the God we hope to encounter we meet inside.

If you remain a cover lover, the Word will not come alive for you.  For the Holy Spirit speaks to us as we read it, whispers the words He has for us in the moment, and reminds us that the Word is an invitation for a fresh encounter with the Living Word, Jesus.

The Bible is meant to be read, digested, interacted with. We are to allow it to shape our mindsets, fix our values, guide our emotions and be a foundation we can turn to in the hard times.

The Word reminds us…

  • We are not alone.
  • God is with us.
  • God is for us.
  • God is in us.
  • God lives through us.
  • God knows us.
  • God guides us.
  • We are loved.

Crack open the cover of your Bible, and allow His words to seep into you.  Ponder the mysteries.  Savor the love.  Delight in the truth. Align your path to the one He has for you.

Move beyond the covers into the best part of the Word, for He is just waiting you there!

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Remade

Karla Lees

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The past several days, God has been peeling back some of how I look at things.

And I am being changed as He does.

Early this year, I virtually met Beth Kinder of Remade Ministries, and became a writer for their team teaching out to minister to women. Something a bit surreal at the same time as exciting and a step beyond what I had been expecting.
I sensed I was to say yes without fully understanding why.

God has been slowly revealing that why to me.

This weekend, I got the revelation that although I may have talent as a writer and a singer, a wordsmith as it were, my best words are His, and come out my best through community.

I was meant, designed to be part of a team. To co-lead, so to speak.
The times when He uses me best are when I link up with the teams He has for me to be part of, for His purposes.

And when I do, another layer within me becomes remade as He desires.

For God knows I need community to help keep me on track and focus in the hard seasons.

Because I have the tendency to lone wolf and isolate myself in the storms, leaving myself open to remaining stuck where I am.

I need the rest of the team of keep me focused on God, listening for His voice & following where He is leading me. I need their prompts, encouragement, and suggestions when I begin to falter or wallow.

Community for me is a blessing: both a gift and a necessity.

I am so thankful that God has been revealing this truth to me in deeper levels as He continues to make me new in the areas where I so desperately need Him to.

My former self used to be a walking sarcastic chip on her shoulder. I couldn’t receive constructive criticism for fear of my tightly around emotions unravelling.

My new self has accepted I need to continuously be learning, repenting, listening, following & becoming new.

Instead of running in fear from going deep with community, I am trusting in the One who is making me new.

Despite my trepidation at becoming remade, I know His plans for me will make me the best me He hardwired me to be. And how those He has blessed me to be in community with, along with Holy Spirit, are the tools He is using to reshape me.

I am so grateful for His timing, and the support of the communities He has gifted me with.

This week, I am leading. But not on my own, as part of team. And i am excited at the thought of what He will do through me, as a part of that unity.

Now is the time to be Remade, Beloved. Each day we have a fresh opportunity to learn, grow & become remade at His hands.

the straw that loosened my tongue

Karla Lees

I have a confession to make.
After a particularly long & hot day at my far away job, hubby was chatting with me in the car as we headed home.  I was hangry, and looking back, just ready to blow.

Hubby shared about an email he got from a friend who is all riled up in his disappointment over the stand a public figure has made about what the church should do about a hot topic.

And i lost it, as i got revelation at the same time.

Strange but true.

I basically said quite loudly,
“Who the crack cares what he thinks about the church? Its more important what God says about it!”

We get all caught up in what he says or what she thinks, when we should be more focused on what He says, and seeking Him when things aren’t as clear.

His Presence, His Word is what matters in our present, not the words & actions of personalities.

I immediately apologized to my hubby for my yelling my comment at him, but we both agreed it was a true statement, despite the delivery method.

When did we accept what humanity has to say about the church is more important than its Head’s instructions?

When we judge, bicker, backstab & gossip about where we stand on church issues, we fail to see where Jesus took His stand.

The cross.

He died so we could find Him wherever we were, no matter what we have done.

He died to welcome us into His family.

He died so we could fully live, as He intended.

He died for us to be free from the world’s mindset & treadmill.

He died for us, so we could follow Him, where He leads.

Its time to stand on His words, and stop fooling ourselves that people matter more than His standards.

That’s what got us into the messes of our world’s history, and why He had to come rescue us.

How does Jesus feel about His church?

He died for her.

He doesn’t want us to settle for second rate or second best again.

He wants us to seek His ways first, in everything now that we are His.

Especially in regards to His bride.

As part of His bride, I want to be the bride He wants me to be.

Pure, spotless, whole.

As we seek His standards for the church He so loves, I pray we will press in to the Word, become more obedient to hearing His voice over all the distractions, and follow where He leads us.

#Hischurch
#Hisstandards
#Hisbride

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be kind

Karla Lees

There are many kinds of people out there in this world.

Not all of them are kind.

You too may have brushed up against one, have one in your family, or work with one.

Sometimes they don’t know any better, because they have not been shown much kindness in their lives.

Sometimes they know they are being unkind, and they don’t care about the explosive hurt they hurl at those they come across.

What are you & I to do when someone we know, or meet, is unkind to us?

Be kind.

Hurt people do hurtful things, and hurl hurtful words.

That is their choice.

Our choice is to show them the better way. To walk in the kindness of Jesus, and be kind.

For our actions reflect our choices, not those of others when we remain in control of our emotions & decisions.

“Why should I be kind?” my daughter asked me years ago when she had been picked on at school.

I told her, “You being kind lets people know who you are. Do you want to be known as mean, or kind?”

Today, she is one of the kindness women I know. Kids flock to her because they can sense her genuine kindness and care for them. Her path has not been easy, but she has always responded with kindness to the obstacles she has faced.

Because she too knows the One who is the most kind, who helps us show kindness in the face of opposition.

The One who was so kind, He chose to take everyone’s sins on the cross, even those of His enemies.

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The One who went to the cross because of His great love for us all.

The One who offers this love at all times to all people, always.

Such kindness the world had never quite experienced before the cross, not since.

We don’t end up where we were headed because of His kindness.

We were headed for the pit,
now we get to sit at His banquet!

Beloved of God.

I would say that is the beat example of kindness I could imagine. Showing love & care to all, regardless of their response.

If God could show such radical kindness to the whole world, I believe He can help us be kind to the people we come across each day….we only need ask for His help to see them as He does- those desperate for a kind & loving God.

Is it easy to be kind?
Not always.
Some times it is a sacrifice of obedience, showing kindness to someone whose words or actions cause our stomachs to roll or our teeth to clench.

But knowing Jesus, the kindest man I have ever met. The One who doesn’t hold my mistakes against me and always gives me a second Chance when I genuinely ask for one?

How could I not share the kindness He has shown me?

better tomorrow today

Karla Lees

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I am a creative person, which can be a danger at times when I lose my anchoring.

Spending too long dreaming about the future can hobble your walk in the present.

We were meant to dream…but with the dreams God has for us to be dreaming. Dreams that awaken our soul’s deepest longings and desires, and single-mindedly pursue the passion they stir within us.

But the key is for God to be the one who gives us those dreams.
Which means we need to be pressing in close to Him regularly, and asking Him for the dreams He has meant for us to dream.

One of my deep down, never spoke about dreams in high school was to write a book.

I partly allowed the kind words of others to point me in a different direction for school and work, because I was too fearful to speak up and share my dream.

It took several years and a few major traumas for God to rekindle my love of writing into full flame again. When I had been in high school, computers were just coming into the mainstream, and I would never have believed I would end up writing a blog on my own computer every day!

I am trusting that the One who gave me this dream will stir up the embers until the spark catches on and it burns high with the fuel of my faith & His promises as it begins to unfurl.

How do i know this dream is from God, you may be asking yourself? I know I did.

1. I want to write because I have to. Its a part of me.

As God is the giver or our gifts & talents, I believe He hardwired to do so, and equips me to use it as He strengthens me. For God to give me a dream about writing fits with who He has designed me to be.

2. The dream never died.

God is eternal, and His words & promises are as well. What He has spoken comes to pass.

3. When you get confirmation.

When He reminds you through others who don’t know about your hopes & dreams, and they speak as if they are reading your secret journal, you can bet it was God! When He leads you to the right resources, a part of your spirit jumps and laughs within you.

I have another major dream He has spoken into me and over me over the past years. I am keeping that beautiful one even closer to my heart for its time has not yet come. So it is expectantly slumbering as I await for my Prince to awaken it.

Time spent pursuing Him will only add to the dreams He gives us, like colored paint adds depth and life to a black outline.

So I wait for the outline of my dream to write a book for His glory to unfurl. I have had a colored glimpse of what I think it will look like at the end, and am laying this dream down before its Giver so it will come to life as He leads.

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Dreams from God come true when we allow Him to take us by the hand as we sketch them out- whether its via word, music or art!

While I wait for what is to come, I draw close to Him today, to not miss out on what He has for me in the here and now.

My tomorrows are only in His hands if He has my today.

when words fail

Karla Lees

Hearing about how Christians are being persecuted, tortured & killed for their faith hurts.

For we are one body, one bride, one church in Jesus.

And when one part of the body hurts, the whole body feels the pain. Sure, those closest to that part may feel it more intensely, but when the part is removed, the whole body has to readjust and learn to compensate.

God calls us to life down here on earth, in the midst battle over the ground the enemy is trying to conquer as his….each of us.

You see, the enemy doesn’t really want land mass, he wants to rule the masses.

He is jealous for God’s kingdom, and will not stop trying to destroy it until Jesus comes and puts an end to him once and for all.

The enemy knows this, which is why he tries so hard to discourage, stir up dissent, distract & decoy us from Kingdom living.

He thought that if this slaughter of His lambs were made public, he could turn the flock away from the Lamb.

He was wrong.

God’s people begin to pray all the more and share Jesus all the louder when we hear & see His people being taken out.

For where the enemy leaves wounds, God brings healing.

Where hearts are broken, God binds up & makes anew.

Where anguish is the cry, God brings His peace.

These are not just platitudes, but hard earned truths I have experienced in my life.

You see, a few years ago now, my lovely sister in law decided she couldn’t take the burdens she carried any longer, and listened to the enemy’s lie that she was better off dead.

She succeeded.

And almost destroyed her husband, rocked our world & stirred up the mental strongholds the enemy has over a few of the family.

If it hadn’t been for God, there would be no family left. Honestly.

God showed up so powerfully at her funeral, and the gospel was fully shared for all to hear…for she was a believer.  I know, because i witnessed her genuine acceptance of Jesus as she poured out her need for him.

Had I not been there, I couldn’t have reassured her husband and mine that she was in God’s hands.
Not the enemy’s greedy clutches. as he had hoped.

God honors our heart’s cry for Him, even if we wander lost for a season or two in the desert.

The peace that God brought into this situation was beyond capture-able in words. 

He revealed His love and grace, mercy and calm beyond words.

We hardly had words to speak in our grief, but He knew.

So my prayer for all of us in the body who are dealing with traumatic loss, heart break, illness, family chaos, debt?

May you press into His Presence with everything you’ve got.
He will be there when you seek Him.
He will hold you together when you begin to fall apart.
He will never leave your side through the lows.
He will rejoice with you in the highs.
He will lavishly love you every step of the way for the rest of your life.

When words fail, the Word steps in and intercedes.

Because what breaks our hearts matters to Him.
When His children hurt, He hurts. When His children die, He cries for our loss as He gathers them Home.

Our words may fail us in the storms that come, but our Word never will. Ever.

If your heart is heavy, draw near to Him and ask Him to lighten your load.  If your soul is parched, ask Him to quench it with life & hope again. If you hunger for more, He will meet your need.

And if you find yourself facing your ISIS one day, He will more than equip you to stand your ground, and lead you into heaven at His side.

And what about the enemy? He knows his days are numbered, and he knows who will win.

He knows it isn’t him.

One God rules, forever and ever!

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love the one you’re with- 3 ways to show it this Valentine’s Day

Karla Lees

Love is a choice.

You may have heard that before, but this Valentine’s, may it sink in deep.

We show this love by how we care for those around us.

By choosing to love them, our love can be seen like an outer garment.

We choose to love.

How we express that love should be up to three key factors:

1. Listen:
Keep an ear out for how the person says they want to be loved, which is usually their primary Love Language.

My hubby is Physical Touch, so a long hug, hand hold or kiss he interprets as how much I love him. If we spend too long apart, those small touches remind him he is loved.

My daughter is Show Me. A spontaneous gift, a thoughtful card, going out of our way to drop her off or pick her up from school…those speak volumes too her of how much she is loved.

My son is Quality Time. Spending one on one, whether chatting, reading together, gaming or watching a comedy or action dvd reassures his heart that he is loved.

Mine is Words, or Tell Me you love me. I text, call or email loved ones regularly as a way of reminding them how much they mean to me. Hearing I was on someone’s heart or mind & they tell me about it makes my day!

(PS. Not sure what your love language is? Take the free test at:
Discover Your Love Language , it is so worth doing…for all your relationships.

2. Look:
How we see them show love usually reveals how someone wants to be loved.

It is likely no surprise that a writer & singer would love to hear loving, kind & encouraging words. Take the time to observe your loved ones as they express care & love to those around them. They will give you the best clue you need by how they show their love.

3. Get Equipped:
Learn how God says we are to love up on one another:
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Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

This is a huge list to try & do on our own. Trying to love in our own strength leaves us exhausted and empty.

Feeling stressed about how to love like the list in 1 Corinthians 13?

The good news is God helps us to love others when we come to Him to be loved…

The overflow of His love through us is more than enough to express our love to others.

This Valentine’s, let your loved ones know how much you choose to love and treasure them.

Your loved ones doesn’t need our freaking out about what you should get them by the world’s standards.

Bigger doesn’t mean better if your wife hates the roses you get her every year, coz you think that’s how you need to show her extravagant love & that she is special on Valentines… if she really loved daisies (true story!)

If you can only afford:
a small well chosen token…
genuine affection & love poured into a card…
a shared moment over coffee…
a dance to your wedding song…
a poem about love you printed off the internet and put in a dollar store frame…
then be yourself and express your love however you can. The best Valentine’s I ever got were hand written cards from my loved ones, as they showed how much they loved me by loving me back as I love to be loved!

Its not about the monetary price, but the choice you make to invest your love into another’s heart.

Love is priceless, and will live on beyond beauty, objects and time.

Choose to love from the best Source of love there is, its Inventor & #1 Lover of us all!

Love is always worth the investment when you choose to love the ones He loves, revealing His heart as you do.

His love never fails,
never gives up,
never runs out on us.

That’s the love I want my loved ones to know I have as my source of love, and that i will model for them.

Love wants the best.

Loving your beloveds as they long to be loved is the best gift you can give, every day!

3 ways words pack a wallop

Karla Lees

Many of us can recall a time when we were hurt by someone else’s actions.

But we likely all can remember a time when someone’s words hurt.

Words bypass race, size, religion, gender, class and strike right at the heart of us, often before we know it.

There are three ways we can be wounded by words have been wielded as a weapon:

Unintentionally:

Gossip can catch us off guard, and broken telephone can contribute to us being hurt when we hear things behind our backs.  Hearing your BFF actually hates your new dress but tells you how flattering it looks to your face because they know how much you like the color & they don’t want to hurt your feelings… still hurts when you realize they withheld the truth from you when asked for it.

Sometimes we don’t know the other person well enough to not accidentally make a comment slip (like how you dislike Timmy’s coffee and it turns out to be their favorite daily coffee place) and hurt their feelings.

Be careful what you say when you don’t know all the facts or people in a situation. Ask God for wisdom to help you steer clear of unintentionally using words that hurt.

Accusingly:

When we hear an accusation, we are all initially hurt: either by the truth, or by the lie.

The truth can pack quite the wallop when we are hiding from it, can’t it? There have been times when I need to catch my breath from its jab. The point of these words is to rebuild & restore us, despite the surgery that may be involved uprooting what shouldn’t be within us.

Unfortunately, the delivery method can pack as much of a punch as the words spoken.

When God speaks the truth to us, whether in His word or through another follower, it might be blunt but it is to be delivered with love and a desire for God’s best. Not the judgment that tends to slip out, which reveals the state of our own hearts.

Which leads me to the other way that an accusation can hurt: when its a lie.

You know, “lie” is a word I prefer not to use, because I like to lie down to rest, and I don’t like to use words in two ways when I have an options. Lies as a plural, is perfect. As a writer, word choice is important to me for setting the right background or revealing the best picture.

I choose to use the word “falsehood” for two reasons. False is the opposite of Truth, which also shows we are aligning ourselves with the enemy “hood.”

Falsehoods hurt because of their design. They are enemy snipers designed to take us down any way they can. When they are used by a non-Kingdom dweller, we aren’t as surprised, for we know who they are aligning with by association.

When falsehoods are used by a believer, a tear forms in the fabric of the Kingdom, and a tear falls from the face of its Leader.

We are not designed to speak what is false, but:

Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable —if anything is excellent or praiseworthy —think on such things.

Philippians 4:8 NIV

We are not to walk back into the enemy hood we have been delivered out of, but keep the best of the Kingdom on our hearts & in our minds, as the above verse suggests. Even more clear is the comparison seen in the Message version of the same verse below:

Fill your minds and meditate on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

Philippians 4:8 MSG

Which leads to the last way words can wound us when they are wielded as a weapon:

Deliberately:

This reveals more about the character of the speaker than the hearer.

Deliberately using your words, whether truth or false, shows you have a foot in the enemy hood, whether you would like to hear that or not:

Because you KNOW your word will hurt.

And that knowledge means you purposefully are aiming at another person to wound them.

Not cool.

I have been the recipient of deliberate, calculated falsehood in a time of great loss or shock, from those I adored.

Although I have forgiven them, the scar remains.

Those deliberate words? They are the bombs to the single gun shot of unintention and the Uzi of accusation.

Last Word:

All of these wound causing word weapons can come with a complication. How it impacts our relationship with the speaker of these words.

We need to run to God first to ask Him to separate how we have been hurt from the person who hurt us. Once we have dealt with the wounding, then we need to ask Him how we are to speak to the wounder. He may reveal an insight we could not know, and have us either set up a new boundary or reinforce our friendship, addressing the situation from His perspective.

Words hurt, but in His hands we can be fully healed.

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caught in the headlights

Karla Lees

The other day, someone was speaking highly about a skill I have while I was in the room, and I felt uncomfortable.

I felt awkwardly caught in the headlights!

The issue wasn’t that I had overheard, because the person knew I was there.

The real issue?

I am not used to praise and compliments, especially in public.

I had a normal upbringing, but as I entertained myself pretty well (as readers and kids on bikes tend to do) I didn’t tend to be on my parents’ radar much unless i did something wrong.  Which, like any normal kid does, I did.

Both my parents were raised with the same style of parenting. Other than I love you’s, there wasn’t much verbal encouragement unless it was related to grades, again very normal for that generation, and NOT a negative reflection on my parents. Just an observation.

The result in my mind?  When I did get called on my behaviour, it felt like being in the principal’s office waiting for the chastisement to begin. Which is now sort of funny, because as a singer and musician, I am used to being seen…. but I am not a head right for the spotlight kinda gal

As a result, I have had a hard time with criticism, as I didn’t often get its counterpart of encouragement. If you offer it publicly, I used to be even worse accepting it. Occasionally even full blown panic attacks. If it was written down, not so bad, as I could digest it in private.

I did have a few teachers who tried to build me up, but to a kid who doesn’t get a lot of attention unless its negative (again, my perception) I didn’t really know what to do with it.

Into the locker of my brain it went.

As a young adult, I grew a hard skin to compensate, until I ran head first right into His embrace.

God’s words bypassed my hardened shell and shot into my heart, so I was able to receive the words of love and hope He had for me, and could accept the promise of restoration.

Fast forward to my marriage.
To a man who got no attention unless it was negative.

See the pattern here?

I got some counseling & mentoring over the years, but nothing seemed to come close to this issue.

Three years ago, I started working for my first really encouraging boss. On a regular basis, this person tries to speak encouragement to keep using your gifts, his appreciation for the hard work we do, and general blessing. A year later, I began working for another boss, who has a similar thankful & encouraging style.
More encouragement started being spoken to me on a regular basis, but usually on a small scale.
Last year, I added a few more freelance bosses as i began to run my own small business, and each of them has also been a blessing, and express gratitude.

I am very grateful to God for the blessing it is to have such great people to work for and with. It has taken almost 3 years for me to accept verbal kind words my direction.

Then the worst thing (in my imagination) happened to me just over a month ago.

I was sitting in a prophetic service (which I am fine with, btw!) where the pastor began publicly sharing the words He was sharing through him.

All of a sudden my heart started racing, and I clearly heard “He is going to speak to you next.”

I am so thankful God gave me the heads up, because if He hadn’t I would have missed what was said in my shock at being singled out.
Coz the word was so encouraging.

And God knew I needed to hear it out loud, in front of witnesses.

Because not only did it answer a question I had, but it released something in the heavenlies.
I don’t need to be afraid any longer of every word I am about to hear being a negative one.

God has been using others and His word to remind me I do have good characteristics & skills, which has helped me become more balanced in my own thinking about myself.

I still need correction, as we all do. Now, I can take it as a part of the picture, instead of perceiving every thing to be a mountain out of a molehill. And I am getting used to it coming out in ways I cannot always expect.

I have learned I don’t want to limit how God wants to encourage or bless me, and as I trust Him more, He reassures my heart as to who i am to Him.

And the fear begins to ebb, and I can take in what He wants me to hear and learn.

So no more awkward deer or moose caught in the headlights for me, at least after the initial few seconds any ways!
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weards

Karla Lees

I made up a word today.
Weards.
(I may not have actually, but for the purposes of today’s post, let’s pretend I did for how I am about to use it!)
By my definition, weards are words meant to be heard:

words/heard
w starts us off
ear reflects hearing
d to show the word’s almost done
s to show more than one.

At least, that’s the way I see it.

Today was a rollercoaster of words that were heard:

Word words
Constructive words
Encouraging words
Complaining words
Words spoken in pain
Funny words
Grateful words
Poignant words

There were a few that impacted me most of all, the words God meant for me to hear.

The caution in an area I need to stand firm in.

Genuine thanks for a job well done.

An encouraging email from a new sister I recently met (same Father)

A written reminder in my lunch how God loves me with an everlasting love.

When we depend on God’s Words to lead us, speak to us and guide us…we will be confident when God asks us to share them with others…. for when the Word is spoken, then the Word truly comes alive.

God spoke. The world & all it contains, human and creature, came to be.

Words have the power to build up.

The enemy, counterfeit that he is, tries to get us to use our words to tear one another down, dividing & wounding us.

Words have the power to hurt.

God reminds me through His Word and through His people who I am, how much He cared for me, and the type is person He has designed me to be.

Words have the power to release life.

May your words uplift and bless.
May they always be worth being g heard, these weards!